Related

Web links

Americans turned out in droves to name their next president
today, choosing between incumbent George W Bush and challenger John
Kerry, both of whom made last-gasp bids for votes after a bitter
marathon that left the race in a dead heat.

As many as 120 million voters were expected to cast ballots in
the first presidential contest since the September 11, 2001
terrorist attacks transformed the United States and its view of the
world.

Long lines of voters were reported across the country, including
the critical swing states of Ohio in the mid-west and Florida in
the south-east where some people queued for hours to vote.

The longest and costliest presidential race in US history
lurched to a climax with opinion polls showing no daylight between
the feisty Republican president and the patrician Democratic
senator from Massachusetts.

Five late surveys gave Bush a statistically insignificant lead
while Fox News showed Kerry leading by two points and the American
Research Group had a 48-48 per cent tie.

Both camps were vying for a majority of the 538 electoral votes
that decide the presidency and are awarded in separate, mostly
winner-take-all, state contests.

US voters will also decide the composition of Congress, where
Republicans are defending a slim Senate majority, but are heavily
favoured to keep control of the House of Representatives.

While a reported one million volunteers on each side scrambled
to get out the vote, thousands of Republican and Democratic lawyers
waited in the wings poised to mount legal challenges in case of a
tantalisingly close result.

Fears were widespread the election could end up like the debacle
in 2000, when a disputed recount in the state of Florida had to be
settled by the US Supreme Court five weeks later.

"This election is in the hands of the people. And I feel very
comfortable about that," Bush said as he voted in the fire
department and ambulance terminal in his hometown of Crawford,
Texas, accompanied by his wife and twin daughters.

Both candidates attended Election Day events in battleground
states in last-minute grabs for votes.

"We're going to link hands and hearts and we're going to take
America to a better place. Let's get the job done," Kerry told
cheering supporters at an early rally in Wisconsin.

Bush expressed hope for a clear-cut winner tonight.

"I think it's very important for it to end tonight," he said.
"The world watches our great democracy function and (there would)
be nothing better for our system for the election to be
conclusively over tonight."

Bush then travelled to Washington, where he arrived at the White
House in a helicopter. Supporters and staff cheered the president
as he walked into the building with his wife and children.

Kerry in turn arrived in his home town of Boston to cast his
ballot.

"I'm very confident that we made the case for change, the case
for trust in a new leadership, a new direction, a fresh start,"
Kerry said after voting with his two daughters, Alexandra and
Vanessa.

Kerry, a four-term senator, then went to the restaurant he has
visited on every election day.

The race, the first in 30 years conducted with US troops
fighting abroad, boiled down to a heated debate over last year's
invasion of Iraq and a question of who could keep America safer
from terrorists.

Three states were generally seen as pivotal in the race:
Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania in the East. All were considered
toss-ups, as were half a dozen other "battlegrounds" that could
swing the balance.

Kerry had to win two out of the big three states to have a
chance at the presidency. For Bush, the loss of two would make it
difficult but not impossible for him to reach the threshold of 270
electoral votes.

Analysts did not rule out a candidate losing the popular vote
and winning the election again as Bush did four years ago, or a
269-269 tie in the electoral vote that could force Congress to
decide the outcome.